The Official Port City Community Church Blog

Over the last four years, Port City Community Church has engaged in an experiment that asks people to trade in their New Year’s resolutions for One Word. This year, we re-launched MYONEWORD.ORG, to be more than a place to share your word, but also a tool to help you stick with your word this year.

You may be wondering, “how can a website help me stick with my word?”  Well, here are three ways that MYONEWORD.ORG is setup to help you cross the finish line with your word in 2010.

1. THE BLOG – The myoneword.org blog will be used to discuss different topics relating to your word each month.  These topics will come with pointed questions that challenge you on how you are using your word this year.
2. YOUR WORD JOURNAL – Sometimes, hindsight is 20/20. The idea of the Word Journal is to give you an intentional place to write down your thoughts and reflections so you can look back in 2011 and see how God used your word this year.  It’s simple to use–the questions posed on the blog automatically generate a journal entry for you to complete when you have a myoneword.org account!
3. EMAIL REMINDERS – Many of us tend to be forgetful, tying a ribbon around a finger to complete a task.  When you have an account, you will receive email updates that remind you about your word and our monthly newsletter to challenge you about the months topic.
4. SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE –  When your community knows your word, this works as a catalyst to keep that word in front of you.  Through our website, you can share your word with our online community, or you can visit our fan page on Facebook to become a fan and use the email form on the website to invite your friends to pick a word.

Additonally, Mike Ashcraft, will be posting a video explaining what the topic on the blog will be about each month.  For February, the MYONEWORD.ORG Blog will be examining how to arrange your life to stick with your word in 2010.  Below is Mike’s Video Blog about the topic for February:

If you have picked a word this year, we strongly encourage you to register for an account at MYONEWORD.ORG to experience the benefits listed above.  If you haven’t picked a word yet for 2010, it’s not too late!  Visit the choose page on the site or go to the “pick a word” category on the blog to learn how to pick a word for your year.

FUSECAMP.COM is the official website for FUSE, Port City Community Church’s Student Ministry Summer Camp! Every June, we take a couple hundred middle and high school students into the South Carolina mountains for the best week of their lives. At FUSE, we want students to do one thing: CONNECT… with God and others.

Take some time to check out the site, learn more about FUSE, and sign up for a week that God wants to use to change your life!

Follow Fuse Camp on Twitter for the latest news updates: http://twitter.com/fusecamp

Jonah is mostly seen as a children’s story known for one man’s encounter with an enormous fish. But there is so much more to it. The Book of Jonah is not about the message of the prophet, but what the prophet did with the message. Jonah runs from God and we learn lessons about running. But as we follow the life of Jonah in this short book, we see that it is a story about grace and mercy. Jonah is about change. Jonah challenges us to embrace God’s plan and the struggle that is required to let go of our heart and embrace God’s.

The book we will be studying is not about Jonah and the whale, but Jonah and his God! As we look at his story, we will find our own and see how God wants to form His heart in us. We invite you to join us for this new series on the Book of Jonah starting this Sunday, January 31st!

1 Timothy 4:12-15

12 And don’t let anyone put you down because you’re young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. 13 Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. 14 And that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the church laid hands on you and prayed—keep that dusted off and in use. 15 Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes!

Timothy is instructed not to be discouraged by people complaining he is too young. But it doesn’t just have to be our age- it is whatever we are insecure about. Do not be discouraged because of your past. Do not be discouraged because of your ability or insecurity. Instead, run the race set before you. Walk the walk. Specifically, we are told to be an example.

Verse 13 instructs Timothy to devote himself to preaching and teaching. Why?

Because that was his race. It is here that we have to do the work to discover this. What is the work that God has given to us? What are we to devote ourselves to in order to take steps in the race God has for us?

Is it influence? Service? Leadership? Generosity?

We are told to arrange our lives in order to grow. We are to set a pattern to help us become the kind of person God call us to become.

Some Questions you will want to ask yourself might be:

1. What is your verse 13?
2. Who affirms this in you?
3. Who knows you well enough to affirm this?
4. Do you have patterns in your life where those around you can know?